Liberals’ day may come again, Mr. Tarlós

“So this is not such a liberal city after all…” The line is taken from the victory speech of re-elected Budapest Mayor István Tarlós. He was referring to citizens of the capital understanding and accepting the “new type of order” introduced by the administration of the past four years. There is one thing clear: while there are probably a great many who are not ecstatic about Tarlós leading the capital for five more years, politically speaking the best thing that could have happened to Budapest is the re-election of its mayor. While Tarlós had a few head-butts in the past with Fidesz, he is still considered “one of our own” within the governing party, which means that he will likely be able to access funds that an opposition mayor would probably have been denied. Hot-headed statements are understandable in the euphoria of victory but Tarlós should really take time and think about his declaration of Budapest not being liberal. After a campaign nothing short of disastrous for the left, with a candidate most people still associate with his austerity package from nearly two decades ago, and who had the chance to be their sole candidate for only about two weeks, the opposition still managed to get 36% – against 49% for the incumbent – of the votes. This is a liberal city and if the mayor actually thinks otherwise, then – granted only in five years – he has another think coming.